Re-Happy Birthday Monica!!

Hello! And welcome to part 2 of Monica's birthday!  We had a pretty great day.  Monica got new cooling racks, and just in time to make her cake.  Some cake got stuck, but Winry helped to take care of that.  The cake ended up terrific, and we'll see the final product when we sing happy birthday!

In the afternoon, while Monica was making the cake, the girls and I headed to the basement to make a special surprise for Monica.  We made her a Mario birthday level in Mario Maker 2!  Monica aced her way through it like a pro, and loved the level!  After dinner we all played some Mario Kart together while we waited to be more hungry so we could have cake.  Winry started to experiment with some alternate positions for optimal Mario Karting.  Did it help?  I'm not sure.  Did it hinder her?  Finishing position wise... no.

Racing gave us all huge appetites, so we headed back to the table for cake and ice cream.  We lit the candles, then re-lit the one that went out, and then sang happy birthday!  Monica had a wonderful day, and enjoyed sleeping on our new king size mattress!

Speaking of new beds, I had a box in my office that Jelly was climbing into and taking naps, so I decided to get her a pet bed to replace it.  The bed came, and so far Jelly has gotten in it exactly once, for about 15 seconds...  I was sure she'd love it, and I still think there's hope for the future.

One evening the girls were playing and bonked heads!  Brooke was climbing on me and Winry ran into her.  Winry ran to the kitchen to Monica who got her an ice pack!  She did a really great job keeping it on all by herself.

Brooke got an ice pack too!  It was funny to watch them both hold big ice packs to their foreheads while they were walking around getting ready for bed.

On Saturday I got back to work on the mantel.  I put up some wood on the sides earlier in the week, and then I taped everything off Saturday morning and sprayed everything with black paint.  The previous paint was completely worn off in places and needed a refresh.  We opened all the windows and everyone went upstairs after I painted it.  The smell was gone in about an hour or so, so that was a pretty pleasant surprise.  Also, the high yesterday was only around 75 or so, so it was definitely the day to paint so the windows could stay open!

Later in the afternoon, Jelly took a nap on the bed that's currently in the living room.  We still haven't gotten rid of our queen size mattress...  Anyway, it is apparently the perfect size pet bed for Jelly, and she slept in the middle of it for a good 6 hours.  To be fair, when she laid down she was in the sun, so I'm sure that helped her decision.  Also, she rolled into several positions, but the best was probably this one where she had her front paws sticking straight out in front of her!

For family movie night on Friday we watched an episode of Dora the Explorer.  This led to a nightmare on Brooke's part last night where Swiper came and stole Cheesers (her stuffed caterpillar she was sleeping with), and all 3 of her blankets!  I asked why she didn't say "Swiper no swiping" and she said it was because he came when she was asleep!

Coincidentally, the stuff of dreams tends to make it into reality (or maybe vice versa) and all morning today the girls have been playing Swiper no swiping.  That's actually a pretty common game, and the girls typically play it for at least a day every time after they watch Dora.  Pretty exciting morning!